Ancient Thira and Akkerman fortress
"Untwisting the twisted branches
Of noisy youth of ages,
See the place of each century
On the trunk of human history.
Cutting into the future
Remember, without destroying the ancestral paths,
Knowing the past space,
Let's know ourselves in time»
The northern coast of the Black Sea… endless steppes… an ocean of swaying waves of feather grass, bluegrass and fescue. And the Danube and the Dniester, the Dnieper and the Southern Bug carry their waters to the Black Sea. Here, almost at the very mouth of the Dniester, there is a provincial cozy town - Belgorod-Dniester, whose history goes back to ancient times... in those days when the Greeks, expanding their sphere of influence, sailed to the lower reaches of the Tiras River and occupied the Northern Black Sea region. Thus arose a new colony, and now the ancient city– Thira.
The city reached its heyday in the 6th-5th centuries. BC, turning into a fairly large center of trade with Attica, Asia Minor, Rhodes, Heraclea and Alexandria of Egypt, as well as with the ancient cities of Olbia and Chersonese. Since these lands were very fertile, and there were a huge number of fish in the river, the struggle for territories continued for many centuries. Who just did not have to conquer the Black Sea lands, trying to establish dominance. Scythians and Macedonians, and later Goths, barbarians and Romans, Slavic tribes and Ottomans, Moldavian, Polish and Lithuanian population alternately settled in these places. In general, the fate of Tyra is interesting and varied. Now, as a result of archaeological excavations, a number of materials and building remains have been revealed, according to which one can trace and form at least some idea of the ancient city. But neither written sources nor archaeological data give a complete picture of the life of the city in the early medieval period. But even then, the city passed from hand to hand from the Tivertsy and the streets to the Bulgarians and Turks, and then to the Kiev principality and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The city had many owners, but it was the Moldavian stage, which lasted a little more than a century, that was the time of its true economic heyday in the 14th century. However, in the 15th century, the city fell under the control of the Sultanate and received a new name from the Turks "Akkerman", which means "White Fortress". But the Ottoman Empire, constantly at war with Russia, having suffered another defeat in the next Russian-Turkish war, in 1806 surrenders the city to the army of de Richelieu and Akkerman passes to the Northern Black Sea Department of Russia. And again another but! Revolutionary upheavals did not bypass the city, and in January 1918 Soviet power was established here. However, already in March, Romanian troops entered the city, and it was announced that the Bessarabian lands were part of the Romanian kingdom, and the city received a new name Chetatya-Albe. And only after the conclusion of a non-aggression pact with Germany, in 1940, while ensuring the security of its southwestern borders, the government of the USSR demanded that Romania return the previously illegally annexed lands. And finally, on August 9.1944, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, Akkerman was renamed into Belgorod-Dnestrovsky, as part of the Ukrainian SSR. These are the ups and downs of fate...
Well, we are studying the stones, trying to see the ancient city of Tyra that appeared as a result of excavations...
The excavations of Tyra showed that the city was located on two terraces - the upper one, where there were residential quarters and a system of defensive structures, and the lower one, where there was a port with moorings, but this part of the city was absorbed by the waters of the estuary. On the most elevated place was the acropolis with erected temples to the patron gods. In the center there was always an agora - a market square, which archaeologists have not yet been able to find. Only the remains of stone houses and courtyards were excavated.
Next to ancient Tyra rises the medieval fortress of Akkerman, unique in its beauty and power, which caused awe of enemies, and now inspires respect for the building art of ancient masters.
The primary core of the fortress system was a small castle-citadel. The date of its construction is unknown. Supporters of the Slavic version believe that the castle was built by the Galician prince Daniel Romanovich at the beginning of the 13th century. But the fact is that there is still no consensus on the boundaries of the Galician principality. And in general, even if the citadel had been built by the Slavs, it would most likely have been destroyed during the Tatar-Mongol invasion. It makes no sense to consider the Turkish version of the construction of the castle, since the fortress existed even before the arrival of these conquerors. The most plausible is the Moldavian version of the construction of the fortress at the end of the 14th century. This is confirmed by the inscriptions of the Moldavian rulers depicting the coat of arms of the Moldavian principality. Akkerman is located on the rocky plateau of the Dniester Estuary. In plan, it looks like a rectangle with an area of about 9 hectares.
The fortification is surrounded by a wide moat:
Between the fortress wall and the inner wall of the moat, there is a rampart paved with slabs, usually covering the sentinel path. As a result of excavations, the remains of a Roman-era street with houses and even a drainage system were discovered here.
The fortress itself is equipped with external defensive structures - towers and curtains, necessary to stop enemy troops and organize effective resistance.
The Tower of the Main (Kiliya) Gatewas of exceptional strategic importance, because it is here that the entrance gate is located:
The fortification is divided by internal walls into courtyards, each of which had its own specific meaning:
Between the walls of the Civic and Garrison Courts there is the Watchtower or Storage Tower, on its first tier there was a powder store. This tower was intended for both defense and surveillance; on its open area of the last tier there were sentries and gave signals in case of danger.
The most interesting for visitors is the Citadel, at the corners of which there are four most powerful towers. There was a commandant's yard, the city treasury and a powder warehouse.
Having a powerful foundation The dungeon toweris some kind of ingenious structure.
It is three-tiered. Moreover, the first tier is isolated from the upper ones and is covered with an ogival vault. Going inside, it became uncomfortable, somehow creepy to wander in a dungeon with a weak glow of some very economical lanterns.
But the second and third tiers are connected by a stone staircase and have access to light:
Remains of the commandant's palace with the Commandant's tower.
The southeastern corner of the fortress was defended by The Maiden's Tower or Ovid's Tower. The Maiden Tower got its name thanks to a legend in which the daughter of the Moldavian Tsar Alexander Dobro, Tamara, lived out her days in captivity. The legend says that Tamara put together a gang of robbers and, in the absence of her father, robbed the townspeople. And allegedly in retaliation for her, the inhabitants of the city imprisoned her in the Tower, the exits from which were completely walled up. But this is just a legend, because in reality, one of the king's daughters died as a girl, while the second was married to Count Peles, known to us as Dracula.
The northeastern tower of the castle, also known as Evacuation Tower, was intended for defense and garrison accommodation.
The communication between its tiers was achieved with the help of stone stairs:
There is also a kind of citadel with the lyrical name Pushkin's Tower, which got its name thanks to the disgraced Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, who visited it and lodged at that time in Akkerman. A tower was erected at the intersection of the walls of the Civil and Port Yards.
Standing on the balcony of the tower, the famous poet looked at the boundless expanses of Bessarabia, admiring the majestic Dniester.
At one time religious buildings were located on the territory of the fortress. At first, an Orthodox chapel was built, which was destroyed after the Ottoman conquest. And in its place the Turks erected a mosque, of which only minaret - tower survived, from the height of which the muezzin called for prayer - prayer.
Walking around the territory of the fortress, you can have a little fun. For example, shoot at the shooting range located next to the Maiden's Tower.
Or make your own clay pot on a potter's wheel:
Deciding to overcome one of my phobias, I climbed to the highest observation deck, from where a beautiful panorama of the entire fortress opens:
And at the end of the tour in the evening we also watched the Dniester Veselka festival:
In conclusion, I would like to say that our journey through the expanses of Bessarabia turned out to be very interesting and eventful. I recommend everyone to visit, this little explored by tourists, but no less mysterious and attractive region!
Series of stories "Amazing Ukraine"
